There’s something happening here But what it is ain’t exactly clear
Stephen Stills
Outside of Gomorrah South, nobody has lifted a finger to control runaway rent gouging anywhere in the Silver State. So how come the apartment overlords have launched a full court press to both discredit regulation and advocate cosmetic solutions?
Perhaps the game is ready to come apart. A recession looms and many of the grotesquely grandiose development projects gloriously announced by carpetbaggers will leave homelessness and vacant lots where sweet dreams and flying machines crashed in pieces on the ground. (Anybody remember the southwest Reno Ballardini Ranch McCarran to Mt. Rose Highway megaproject c. 2006?)
Recession means never having to say you’re sorry. As I predicted, we started the slide in the third quarter of last year and tide is rising worldwide. Italy, Germany and the UK are already underwater. The desperate who installed Czar Donaldov remain so.
I was rather bemused when I saw last Sunday’s Reno Kazoo-Journal wherein a nice lady from the Nevada Apartment (Landlords) Association scored 800 words trashing (gasp!) RENT CONTROL! Omigawd. She actually uttered the shibboleth, and in a newspaper of record, yet. What the hell is going on?
This comes hot on the heels of Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve’s benevolent developer dog and pony show in Renown ICU a few weeks ago.
There’s been one thing glaringly missing from all the reportage on the plight of renters and the housing crisis: The fact that the Reno City Council actually passed rent control in 1978. (See my Barbwire exclusive from last July 17.)
So much developer pressure came down that the council reversed itself, probably because three of the seven wanted to run for mayor in 1979. They were all defeated by the lady who got rent control passed, Reno’s greatest mayor, Barbara Bennett.
All this defensiveness and band-aids on gunshot wounds indicates only one thing: Politicians are feeling so much heat that the dam is about to burst. Stay tuned to Rentvolution.org/
ALL AROUND THE SNOWY TOWN. How come lotsa stuff is happening just when the roads get slick in these parts?
SEE YOU IN COURT. Check out Reno Municipal Court’s Community Court Open House, 9:00a.m-Noon Dec. 4 at the Reno Main Library at Center and (ahem) Liberty, downtown.
“Participants accused of committing ‘Quality of Life’ crimes who agree to participate in the Community Court process are typically ordered to complete a same-day community service obligation (such as sidewalk cleanup, campsite and park cleanup, etc.) as restitution to the community at large in lieu of serving jail time or paying a fine,” according to City Hall. Community Court is held 9:00 to noon each Wednesday. Info 775-326-6673 <skillc@reno.gov>
BERNIE BACKERS invade the Sparks Labor Temple at 4:30 p.m. Saturday Dec. 7 at 1819 Hymer off S. Rock Blvd. south of the I-80 underpass. Northern Nevada Workers for Bernie present health care expert Michael Lighty, an architect of the good senator’s Medicare for All plan, in addition to international labor leader José La Luz. Should be enlightening. My man Bernie has made Reno rent gouging a major issue in his campaign. Info: Jacob Allen 775-742-9667
THE NEW AULD RENO BIBLE gets launched from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. this Sunday, Dec. 8 at Whispering Vine Wine Co. (the former Glory Hole/Washoe Steakhouse), 4201 W. 4th Street near westerly McCarran next to Johnny’s Little Italy.
Nevada media maven Mark Curtis, Jr., and world-class art director Ron Taft (aka Mr. Lesley Ann Warren — WOW, Oscar buzz!) have produced “Reno One of a Kind: The people and places that make Reno The Biggest Little City in the World.”
The guys who re-named Washoe Med as Renown have produced a gorgeous coffee table book with art, photos and text by a killer who’s whom of the Silver State. (I didn’t qualify because I was born in California and have only schlepped thru half a century here in the High Desert Outback of the American Dream. Then again, as the immortal Groucho Marx once opined, I wouldn’t join any club that would have me as a member.)
Reno legend Marilyn Melton, former Reagan aide Tyrus Cobb and prima ballerina/UNR Prof. Dr. L. Martina Young will read from their work. More are expected. The volume is available for $45 at various locations just in time for the High Holly Days. (See the Barbwire expanded edition at NevadaLabor. com/) Info: code RenoOneOfAKind at evil Facebook.com/
The magnum opus has the makings of a collector’s treasure and great gift. I’m sure the good folks at the Reno Main Library and Mssrs. Curtis and Taft would agree with another of Groucho’s immortal aphorisms: “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”
Woof, woof.
Happy High Holly Days to you and yours.
Be well. Raise hell. Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Barbano is a 51-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and Rentvolution.org/ Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>
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